Chapter 11 (1/2)

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Soul skill.

When a soul pet reaches a certain cultivation level, it gains understanding of specific techniques.

Unlike now, soul beasts of the ancient era weren’t able to develop intelligence for long periods of time.

As such, to comprehend a soul skill, they had to wait for their cultivation level to rise, and for their intelligence to develop.

However, in the present day, the cultivation age requirement for the learning of soul skills has been greatly reduced, thanks to the soul pets’ incubation phases, which granted them intelligence.

Wang Che looked at the green caterpillar and thought to himself.

A soul pet’s soul skill wasn’t a simple matter.

Even for third years, there was only limited knowledge taught on the subject in school.

From what he knew, these techniques were usually passed down via the soul pet’s genes and as such were innate, or in other words, unchangeable.

‘All green caterpillars have a species potential of below a hundred because they can’t inherit any soul skills from genes…’

Wang Che realized.

To put it bluntly, the first green caterpillar to have emerged in this world was inexplicably useless.

Since it hadn’t learned any soul power techniques when it was alive, it’s descendants naturally did not have any kind of soul skill to speak of.

In fact, the only reason the species had managed to survive for thousands of years is only because of its potency in reproduction, and lackluster conditions needed for survival.

They were unlike other soul pets who, upon reaching a certain age, could use inherited abilities to learn a specific soul skill.

Nevertheless, the soul pets of today could still learn other soul skills through special training.

Though the training was often extremely difficult…

Looking at the number on the machine, Wang Che thought to himself, “To be able to unleash several times its initial power… this must be a soul skill. Could it be that the cultivation of the Beast Origin Skill enabled this little guy to learn a soul skill?”

This was not something that he had expected.

To Wang Che, soul skills were no different from the cultivation world’s Dao techniques, martial techniques, demonic techniques, and so on.

The powers may vary, but at their cores, the basic conditions for learning were pretty much the same.

In order to learn a soul skill, the first step was to gain soul power.

After all, soul power allowed soul pets to erupt with incredible strength.

Take the green caterpillar, which had only managed to exert 180 kilograms of strength with its tail on its first try, for instance.

After using its soul power to swing its tail in a different manner, it was able to unleash more than twice its initial power.

On top of that…

Wang Che walked up to the target and touched the area the green caterpillar had struck with its tail.

“There’s a deep depression, and it’s surroundings have sunk inwards. The force from the attack was incredibly strong!”

Wang Che ran his fingers across the target again.

However, just as he was touching it, the target’s surface was suddenly restored to its original state.

“With the soul power enhancement, that tail has become truly extraordinary.”

After pondering for a moment, he said to the green caterpillar, “Try again.”

Meanwhile, the green caterpillar looked at Wang Che in confusion, as if it did not understand his words.

It struck the target again.

However, it’s attack didn’t seem to carry the same force this time.

The caterpillar’s tail had flared up slightly, but the light vanished quickly as it was jumping.

Like on the first attempt, it hit the target with a thud.

“It seems that this little one hasn’t managed to completely master the soul skill yet. The confused expression on its face… I reckon there must have been some element of luck when it performed the attack earlier. It should have been the first time that it has ever used its soul power.”

Wang Che shook his head.

It was no easy feat to master a soul pet’s soul skill.

Especially since this soul skill was external to the green caterpillar.

“It should be the effect of Beast Origin Skill.”

He had taught this green caterpillar this particular skill. After modifying it to fit his soul pet’s attributes, he had ended up with four moves for insects.

One of them was rather special. It was called ‘Looking Back at the Full Moon’. This move involved a special stance where the caterpillar would twist its tail, bend its body, and stretch its head.

By combining all four of them, Wang Che had realized that he could strengthen the green caterpillar’s entire body.

“The little one may have learned such a soul skill because of this, but it has yet to completely master it. Nevertheless, seeing that it has already used it once, the caterpillar will probably be able to master this soul skill very soon, as long as it continues to cultivate the Beast Origin Skill.”

Wang Che finally understood what was happening.

“Let’s test the next one.”

He said, bringing the green caterpillar to a special track.

The track was only a hundred meters in length, but could change its structure according to the type of soul pet that was using it.

In addition, there were various obstacles that could test a soul pet’s reaction speed.

Nevertheless, Wang Che was only planning to test the green caterpillar’s speed, and so opted to use a regular track.

After walking up to the test area, he pressed a button and started the timer.

Seeing this, the green caterpillar immediately charged forward.

However, a hundred metres seemed too great a distance for it to cover.

It was only twenty centimetres long, after all.